Joe knows bowls, likes this one
Paterno, Slocum turn to next year
by
Brent Zwerneman, Express-News Staff Writer
December 30, 1999
Joe Paterno knows bowls, having coached in and won
more postseason games than anyone in history.
"The Alamo Bowl people are less demanding of my time than
any bowl game I’ve been in," he said Wednesday. "That’s nice when
you’ve got family around and San Antonio is such a great city and easy to get around
in."
Paterno’s 10-3 Penn State team easily got past Texas
A&M 24-0 on Tuesday night in the seventh annual Sylvania Alamo Bowl, behind the quick
feet and strong arm of junior quarterback Rashard Casey.
Aggies coach R.C. Slocum said a mobile quarterback is college
football’s future.
"That’s the kind of quarterback most teams are looking
for," he said, adding he’d like to have a quarterback who can execute the
play-action pass and scramble. It’s no secret the Aggies are heavily recruiting
Carlyle Holiday of Roosevelt High who, like Casey, can run and pass.
Casey earned his first start of the season after splitting time
with Kevin Thompson much of the year.
"We would have liked for him to split time (Tuesday)
night," Slocum said. ". . . The good teams line up on first down and say,
‘What do you want to defend, the run or the pass?’ The hardest thing for
defenses is (quarterbacks) who can run and throw."
Meanwhile, Paterno most likely will lose his best defender.
Junior linebacker LaVar Arrington plans to announce whether he’ll turn pro
later this week.
"I’ve got a pretty good idea what he’s going to
do," Paterno said, refusing to speculate.
He then talked of Arrington’s time at Penn State in the
past tense. Arrington, the Alamo bowl’s outstanding defensive player, hit A&M
quarterback Randy McCown on three of McCown’s four interceptions.
In addition, longtime Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry
Sandusky is retiring, raising the question of when the 73-year old Paterno might also
consider leaving the game.
"I have absolutely no plans to retire," said Paterno,
who just wrapped his 34th season as Nittany Lions head coach. "I’m
going to coach until I feel I can’t do a good job or my health doesn’t allow
it."
The Aggies also are losing an assistant coach. Slocum is
reassigning quarterbacks coach Ray Dorr. Dorr was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease
earlier this year but continued coaching. Slocum and the Aggies recognized Dorr in the
locker room after the game, and Slocum told the players they should always remember the
inspiration Dorr has provided this season.
"Whenever you feel things are going badly . . . think back
about Ray Dorr," Slocum said he told the team. "He came to work every day and
demonstrated tremendous courage. If you come out of this season having learned one lesson,
then (Dorr’s example) will have been a great lesson."
Slocum now has an offensive opening, but he said he’s not
sure how he’ll adjust his staff or when he’ll hire a new assistant.
Slocum’s chief concern for next year, outside of finding a
replacement for McCown among three underclassmen already on campus, is replacing three
senior starters in the secondary.
"We’ll have to really work hard there this spring, and
there are people coming in that will be forced to play next year," Slocum said.
The Aggies finished 8-4, the same record they had in 1989,
Slocum’s first season. A&M entered the season as a top-10 pick, but a loss at
Texas Tech in early October, and subsequent losses to Oklahoma and Nebraska erased the
Ags’ hopes of playing in a major bowl.
"It was probably a pretty good year, all things
considered," Slocum said. "We lost seven players who made NFL teams last year
and it’s hard to replace that talent in a year’s time."
